Meaning of duty in English

duty

noun [ C or U ]

/ˈdjuː.ti/ us

/ˈduː.t̬i/

duty noun [C or U] (RESPONSIBILITY)

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something that you have to do because it is part of your job, or something that you feel is the right thing to do:

The duty of the agency is to act in the best interests of the child.

[ + to infinitive ] I felt it was my duty to tell them the truth.

duty to You have a duty to yourself to take a break once in a while.

out of duty He only went to see her out of duty (= because he thought he should).

report for duty You should report for duty (= arrive at work) at 8 a.m. on Monday.

off/on duty What time are you off/on duty (= when do you finish/start work) tomorrow?

be duty bound to do something

to have to do something because it is your duty:

We are duty bound to justify how we spend our funds.

More examplesFewer examples

She felt that it was her duty to tell the police about the incident.
It is surely the duty of the stronger members in a society to help those who are weak.
I'd be failing in my duty if I didn't tell you about the risks involved in the project.
He has failed to fulfil his duties as a father.
During the dispute, many police officers were transferred from traffic duty to the prison service.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Duty, obligation and responsibility

See more results »

duty noun [C or U] (TAX)

a tax paid to the government, especially on things that you bring into a country:

duty on There's a high duty on alcohol.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Taxation

See more results »

(Definition of duty from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

duty | Business English

duty

noun

/ˈdjuːti/ us

/ˈduːti/

plural duties

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[ C or U ] LAW

a responsibility to do something because it is legally or morally right to do it:

Every lawyer has a strong sense of duty and responsibility.

a duty to do sth They have a duty to ensure customers receive sound advice.

be sb's duty It is your duty to announce any conflict of interest.

do your duty I felt that I had done my duty in reporting the incident to the police.

It was alleged that the company had failed in its duty to advise customers of the technical aspects of the paint system.

[ C, usually plural ] HR

something that you have to do because it is part of your job:

His duties included photographing engineering projects such as bridges and airfields.

perform/undertake/do duties People employed under similar conditions should not be paid less than others performing similar duties.

teaching/cleaning/administrative duties

[ U ] HR

one of the periods of time that a working day is divided into during which someone works:

night/day duty Daniels volunteered for night duty so he could take classes at the University of Arizona.

[ C or U ] TAX, COMMERCE

a tax paid on goods that are bought or imported:

duty on sth He said that duty on a bottle of wine in France is equivalent to 2p compared with £1.16 here.

impose/raise/increase duty The duty on house purchases of £250,000 or more was increased to 2.5%.

a cut/rise/increase in duty

fuel/tobacco/petrol duty

off duty

not working, and not responsible for dealing with things that happen at work:

He summoned his entire unit to a crisis meeting, even though many were off duty.

When your Estate Manager goes off duty, the alarm system will be monitored by a remote service.

on duty

working, and responsible for dealing with things that happen at work:

During office hours there is always a planning officer on duty who deals with enquiries.

The night shift goes on duty at 10 pm.

Examples of duty

duty

This exchangeable end effector permits the robot to perform more complex duties.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

To be sure, it is an extension of ordinary usage to use 'duty' here, but analytically it is correct.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The users of the water invested the communal power with the duty of protecting them against usurpers' efforts to divert the water.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Servants were gradually replaced by other types of labour with work duties as crofters or different types of paid workers.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

They could be full-time content developers, or they could work part-time alongside other teaching or research duties.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It tends to distract faculty into emphasizing profitable research and to neglect their teaching duties.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Since a claim is a duty owed particularly to the person, the unfairness is plainly suffered by that person.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The duty of a judge to apply applicable rules would thus be indeterminate-it would obtain in some cases and not in others.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Negative duties thus appear considerably less liberty-limiting than positive duties.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Thus, strict liability violates the correlativity of duty and right at the heart of corrective justice.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Thus states have special duties to allow minorities to speak their own language and to send their children to the school of their choice.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Although she ultimately returns his love, duty and glory take precedence.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Ultimately, as we shall see, property owners would, indeed, be found to have a duty to the general public to protect their property from harm.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Procedural rules, unlike substantial rules, they do not confer rights or duties, but organise their assignment.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A heavy-duty mobile manipulator while carrying a load, experiencing a force, or operating on uneven terrain needs to maintain its balance.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of duty

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with duty

duty

These are words often used in combination with duty.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

anti-dumping duty

No application for an anti-dumping duty has been made.

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

basic duty

That is a basic duty of government.

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

breach of duty

In other words, the remedy for the breach of duty must reflect the content of the duty.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with duty

What is the pronunciation of duty?

Translations of duty

in Chinese (Traditional)

責任, 義務, 稅…

in Chinese (Simplified)

责任, 义务, 税…

in Spanish

deber, impuesto, impuestos…

in Portuguese

dever, responsabilidade [feminine], obrigação [feminine]…

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in Italian

काहीतरी जे आपल्याला करावे लागेल कारण ते आपल्या कामाचा भाग आहे किंवा असे काहीतरी जे करणे आपल्याला योग्य वाटते…

義務, 職務, 義務（ぎむ）…

iş, görev, sorunluluk…

devoir [masculine], fonction [feminine], droits [masculine…

deure…

plicht, taak, belasting…

அது உங்கள் வேலையின் ஒரு பகுதி என்பதால் நீங்கள் செய்ய வேண்டிய ஒன்று, அல்லது நீங்கள் செய்ய வேண்டிய சரியான விஷயம் என்று நீங்கள் நினைக்கக்கூடிய ஒன்று…

कार्य, कर्त्तव्य, फर्ज़…

ફરજ…

pligt, opgave, hverv…

plikt, åliggande, uppgift…

tugas, kewajipan, cukai…

die Pflicht, die Aufgabe, der Zoll…

plikt [masculine], forpliktelse [masculine], oppgave [masculine]…

فرض…

обов'язок, мито, гербовий збір…

విధి, ఇది మీ ఉద్యోగంలో భాగమైనందున మీరు చేయవలసినది లేదా మీరు చేయవలసిన పని సరైనదని మీరు భావించే పని…

কর্তব্য…

povinnost, úkol, clo…

tugas, kewajiban, pajak…

หน้าที่, หน้าที่รับผิดชอบ, ภาษีศุลกากร…

nhiệm vụ, trách nhiệm, phận sự…

obowiązek, cło…

의무, 임무…

dovere, obbligo, tassa…

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Dutchwoman

dutiable

dutiful

dutifully

duty

duty differential

duty drawback

duty entry

duty of care

Meaning of duty in English

duty noun [C or U] (RESPONSIBILITY)

duty noun [C or U] (TAX)

duty | Business English

See also

Examples of duty

Collocations with duty

duty

Translations of duty

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